Chronology: Defined by
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (third edition) (with the earliest appearence they have traced quoted in parentheses):
"1. The science of computing time or periods of time, and of assigning events to their true dates (1593).
2. A chronological table, list or treatise (1614)." .

Chronologer or chronologist?
Some linguistic purists and dictionaries do not recognise "chronologer" - but The
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (third edition) is perfectly happy with this word
(giving its earliest appearance as 1572) and, indeed, defines "chronologist" as "a chronologer".
We have no preference and will use whichever version each contributor prefers.

A chronology is no substitute for
a history - it gives the "what" and "when" (and sometimes "where") but not the
"who" and "why". Nevertheless, it should certainly form the skeleton on which
the flesh of a story can sensibly be hung. There seems little market, these
days, for rail chronology as such - presumably because publishers find picture
books easier to sell - so a tentative listing of British publications which are
essentially railway "chronologies" rather than rounded "histories" is one of the
resources at this site.

It is also a truism that as soon as a chronology (or
history) is committed to print a date (or some data) that has eluded the compiler
will emerge - or some element of the published material will be questioned (with
or without substantiated provenance!). And once in print, a "fact" which
subsequently becomes discredited also becomes exceedingly difficult to dislodge
as it gets picked up and retailed by others.

This site provides opportunites
for railway chronologists or chronologers to:

publish completed work without the need for the up-front capital (the
compiler's or a publisher's), and

put chronological "work in progress" in public view to seek like-minded
researchers, or to invite comment or correction before committing to the
definitive version.

There is no copyright in information - only in the form in which it is expressed -
and publishing chronology in printed form seems not to be viable, so
chronologists seem to have nothing to
lose by putting their researches on the internet (preferably on this site), and
we hope that interested chronologists will feel free to take advantage of the
facility.

The material on this and
associated web pages is made freely available for personal use, in the
furtherance of the interest in railway history and also in the hope that it may
encourage others to contribute similar material. No authority to republish the
information is implied and any rights which may subsist in any of the material
are fully reserved by the various authors/compilers/cartographers and
webmasters.

To send comments or to discuss
potential items for inclusion address your e-mail to

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